Preformed pavement marking materials are used as traffic control markings for a variety of uses, such as short distance lane striping, stop bars, and pedestrian lane markings at cross walks and lane and shoulder delineators and skips on highways. Typically, preformed pavement marking materials comprise a continuous, preferably wear-resistant top layer overlying a flexible base sheet. Such marking materials are typically applied to road surfaces using pressure-sensitive adhesives or contact cement.
Pavement markings such as markings for crosswalks, stop bars, etc. at intersections, sometimes referred to as "transverse applications", are subjected to very high, very quick shear forces from vehicles which start, stop, and turn at the location. The shear stresses encountered in transverse applications are typically substantially greater than the shear forces typically encountered due to traffic in "long line" or "longitudinal applications" such as lane and shoulder delineators and skips on highways. The adhesives on many markings do not provide desired shear resistance to achieve satisfactory performance in transverse applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,939 (Eigenmann) discloses a pavement marking tape material which utilizes an adhesive which is not tacky at room temperature but which is activated by a hot primer layer or solvent to provide adhesion to pavement surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,635 (Eigenmann) discloses a road marking tape material designed to better withstand tangential stresses internally by incorporation of an inextensible, tensionally resistant intermediate layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,956,904 (Hendricks) discloses use of high energy electron ("e-beam") bombardment of rubber resin type pressure-sensitive adhesives to increase the cohesive properties of the adhesives.